Ground broken for huge green' parking lot at Metro Beach

Macomb Daily photo by David Dalton
Among those participating in the groundbreaking ceremony were County Executive Mark Hackel and Anne Vaara of the Clinton River Watershed Council. (The Macomb Daily/DAVID DALTON)

Officials gathered on Thursday for the groundbreaking of a $3.3 million project to create an environmentally friendly parking lot at Lake St. Clair Metropark that will reduce pollution runoff into the lake and help prevent Metro Beach closings due to tainted water.

The crumbling parking lot, the largest in Macomb County at 42 acres, will be transformed into an area that combines parking spaces with ponds, swales, grassy areas, 200 trees and 10 acres of shrubs and flowers.

The parking lot will be re-graded so that stormwater is diverted into those natural areas rather than into the lake. Half of this “green” lot will be reconstructed and half will receive a new “seal coat” on the asphalt. Completion is scheduled for November.

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“Since 1950, when this parking lot was built, the way we handle stormwater has changed dramatically,” said John McCulloch, director of the Huron-Clinton Metropolitan Authority metroparks.

Rain water fouled by motor oil, gasoline, anti-freeze, fertilizer and animal feces will be diverted to the Point Rosa Marsh on the west side of the HCMA park property, rather than into the Black Creek, which flows into the lake.

The reconstruction of the 4,000-space parking lot will improve efficiency and safety for park-goers by creating a new roadway with traffic circles. Other added amenities will include a sledding hill and two ice skating ponds.

Funding for the effort will be split between $1.8 million from the HCMA and $1.5 million from a federal Great Lakes Restoration Initiative grant.

Anthony Marrocco, chair of the HCMA board, said that he hopes the new lot, combined with nearly $10 million in improvements to the Lake St. Clair Metropark since 2007 will attract more people from the west side of the Detroit area to the 770-acre facility.

The Macomb County public works commissioner, Marrocco said those upgrades included reconstruction of the central plaza area, construction of a new golf course building and picnic pavilion, a revamp of the main marina, and marsh restoration projects. A new boardwalk through marshy areas near the sailing launch facility will open within days.

“We hope these improvements,” Marrocco said, “will enhance the improvements to this metropark for everyone throughout the year — and keep our water clean.”